Pump spray bottles are used to dispense a wide variety of products. Their ability to supply a fine mist without the use of an aerosol propellant has increased the value of these devices in the age of ecological awareness. However, there is presently no commercially available spray bottle that allows a user to spray a fluid downward with minimal fluid remaining in the reservoir.
Because of their great economic value, there have been many patents addressed to the construction of spray bottles. Stern et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,387, "MANUALLY-OPERATED SPRAY APPLICATOR", discloses one such device. A later Stern et al. effort, U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,295, discloses a similar device with the reservoir attached at a 45.degree. to the spray mechanism. This innovation has been found through experimentation by the present inventor to improve the flow of a liquid through a spray device.
Another device directed to spray bottles is the "MIST SPRAYER", U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,639, by Hata, which incorporates a blower device to achieve the spray delivery.
The devices mentioned above all embody a shortcoming of the prior art, that being that two hands are required to operate the device. The Stern et al. device require the use of two hands by the construction of the devices. One hand must be utilized to hold the delivery area of the device, while the other hand is used to pump the liquid. Hata has a single mechanism to trigger delivery of the liquid, but because of the long lever created by the sprayer mechanism of Hata, the user's second hand must be used to support the liquid reservoir.
Hata also illustrates another shortcoming of the prior art in that when in the spraying position, there is no way to stop the liquid flow. Thus the bottle would drip continuously when held by a user.
The dripping is overcome by using a bottle with the liquid reservoir situated above the spray mechanism. However, that arrangement leads to another shortcoming of some prior art devices, the lack of immediate fluid flow when the device is pumped. When the liquid reservoir is beneath the pump mechanism, the first few strokes of the hand pump will be required to raise the liquid to the spray nozzle, and will not actually deliver any liquid.